Despite being legal tender, the notes depicting the Beijing's pride and joy, the 'Bird's Nest' Olympic stadium, are not for spending. A single note will cost HK$138, while a set of 35 uncut bills will cost HK$1,388.

After the chaos that greeted their sale on the mainland earlier this week, the bank promises 'openness, fairness and transparency' when they become available on a first come, first served basis at its 50 Hong Kong branches from July 16 to 31. As one bank insider put it: 'Luckily, Hong Kong people are used to queueing up, not like most mainlanders.'

There may not be any pushing and shoving but what's the betting on there being a busy secondary market to trade the notes with the luckiest numbers, following assurances that they would be sold on a random basis. The only exception is BJO8080808 which has already been reserved for a charity auction. It could become more fun game than an initial public offering.

A common fate

What do the best boss, the worst boss and the most expensive boss in China have in common?

According to Forbes China, Zhejiang Xinhu Venture Investment chairman Chen Jian is the country's top boss, delivering a return on investment of 30 per cent in the past three years.

At the other end of the scale, Ningbo Bird chairman Xu Lihua, who resigned two months ago, had the worst investment return record of a 37 per cent drop in the same period.

And the most expensive boss, as widely reported, was Ping An Insurance chairman Peter Ma Mingzhe, who made 66.16 million yuan (HK$75.52 million) last year.

But what they all share this year are miserable performances on the stock market. Ningbo Bird and Ping An have both fallen 37 per cent so far, while Zhejiang Xinhu has fared slightly better, down 28 per cent.

Big money from small change

A little change can make a difference. Cathay Pacific collected more than HK$2.3 million in small change from its passengers to aid the Sichuan earthquake victims. In the month after the May 12 disaster, Cathay collected HK$1.7 million and Dragonair HK$600,000.

Li Ka-shing's little big box

A little change certainly made a difference to the life of Li Ka-shing.

In an interview with the mainland's Global Entrepreneur magazine, the tycoon revealed how as a young entrepreneur his reputation was saved by his 'piggybank'.

In the 1950s, Mr Li said he wrote a post-dated cheque to his plastic flower supplier, assuming his plastic flower buyer would honour his orders in time. But the buyer failed to meet the deadline. Luckily, he said, he had been saving all his small change in a box that had contained his first wristwatch and there was just enough in it for him to honour his debt.

Mr Li still has the box. 'There is nothing special inside. It contains no secret but it does represent a lesson that I take to heart,' he said.

Rich pickings

Is the worst over for Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing's battered shares? They were up 5.24 per cent yesterday after chief executive Paul Chow Man-yiu exercised his remaining 820,000 share options at HK$8.28 per share. Mr Chow now owns 3.29 million shares, worth HK$370 million based on yesterday's close of HK$112.50.

Brokers speculated that he chose to exercise his option as the stock bottomed out so he would not have to pay too much tax. The first time he exercised 820,000 shares was in April last year when the stock was trading at HK$79. But he also exercised shares in April this year when it was trading at HK$140 and last December when it was HK$218.